“Yes. That’s what you do when you love someone,” he replied, wisely closing the front door in order to keep whatever else this awkward conversation would hold between the three of them.

“You’re really in love with one of your students?” Jordin asked incredulously.

“Aurelia’s no longer my student,” Baron replied, amazed by how calm his wife was. Usually she would be talking fast and in thick island lingo by now. What gives?

Baron didn’t know that Aurelia had made up her mind on the staircase not to lose her cool in front of her rival. That she was determined to deprive Jordin of any victories tonight, great or small. Since he was ignorant of those decisions and since he was determined to avoid any catfights, Baron went to stand beside Aurelia just in case things turned physical between the women. No blows would be passed either way if he had anything to say about it.

“I would bet every dollar I have in the bank that she was your student when you two first started fooling around,” Jordin surmised angrily. Her cheeks looked like red candy apples.

“Then you would go broke, because Baron and I didn’t sleep together once while I was in his class,” Aurelia replied in that same calm tone.

“The way I see it, I’m not the one with the most to lose here.” Jordin scowled. “All it would take was one exposé about college professors who date their students and both of you would lose everything you hold dear. Your jobs, the respect of your peers and neighbors.”

“We wouldn’t lose each other,” Aurelia stated, smiling at Baron with confidence. “Besides, don’t you have to run all of your story ideas by your boss first?” she turned to ask her rival.

“Yes, Cordell does love sensational pieces,” Aurelia agreed, calling her rival’s boss by his first name. “But I seriously doubt if he’s going to approve this one, especially when he learns that I’m involved.”

Jordin gasped.

Baron frowned. His body stiffened with tension.

“H…how do you know my boss? Have you had a secret affair with him, too?” Jordin inquired, asking the same things Baron wanted to know.

“My dealings with Cordell were strictly platonic and served to help his marriage, not hurt it,” Aurelia replied honestly, giving her husband a look that immediately put him at ease. “It would be pretty disloyal of him, don’t you think, to approve a story that was going to harm someone that helped him in his time of need.”

“I’ll take my story to another network then. Maybe even to one of California’s many newspaper outlets,” Jordin bluffed.

“Then I’ll have to take my side of the story public as well,” Aurelia replied, calling her bluff. “I’ll tell people all about how you showed up here wearing next to nothing on a late Saturday night with some flimsy excuse about a follow-up interview with my husband. Not boyfriend, husband. About how you threatened to expose our relationship simply because you couldn’t have Baron for yourself. Imagine how pathetic and bitter you’re going to look to your fans. Imagine how you’re going to repel other men when they learn how vindictive you’ve been to Baron.”

Jordin bristled. “You have no way of proving I was even here. It’ll be your word against mine,” she said, making one last attempt to bluff her way into the upper hand.

“The cameras posted outside our home will have all the proof I need,” Aurelia countered with a smirk. “They’re not just good for catching burglars on tape, you know. They’re also good for recording late night visitors to one’s house. Unwelcome visitors at that.”

Jordin’s cheeks flamed even redder. Recognizing her defeat, she turned to leave.

“One last thing before you go, little Miss Reporter,” Aurelia said, causing her rival to pause in her tracks. “This is how you really kiss a man.” Then she turned and gave Baron one whopper of a kiss, which he immediately sizzled into.

Jordin huffed and left, slamming the door behind her. Yet before her departure, she got enough of an eyeful of that kiss to know that Baron was lost to her forever. He had never kissed her like that. Ever!

There was no doubt in Jordin’s mind that that kiss was about to lead to something more intense in just a few short minutes.

The dejected reporter was right on that tip.

Back inside the Weaver home, Aurelia and Baron had kissed their way over to the sofa by now. There she straddled him and proceeded to give him a stark reminder of just one of the reasons he chose her over Jordin.

After that heated encounter, they made their way back upstairs to their bedroom. It was time to get some much needed sleep.

“By the way, how did you help Cordell Richardson’s marriage?” Baron asked as they ascended the stairs together.

“By going to his house twice a week to teach his wife how to use that stripper pole he bought for their bedroom.” Aurelia chuckled. “Kate was a little round and pretty stiff at first, but after I got through with her, she was fit, toned, and ready to put on quite a show for her man. Cordell enjoyed the results so much that he sent me a huge bonus. I used it to pay for my entire sophomore year at AU.”

“Wow!” Baron replied. “I had no idea that exotic dancers could reach so many people on so many levels.”

“I reached you, didn’t I?”

Baron smiled at her. “Yes, you did. And now I’m never letting you go,” he said, squeezing her close as they completed their ascent.

7 comments:

I was originally going to have Aurelia show out with Jordin, but I decided to save all that fire for when she encountered Megan, who is a lot sneakier than Jordin. That doesn't happened until Chapter 48 or 49.

Chapter 45 is going to be a long one, so bear with me. I'm giving out a lot of info and also introducing Megan in living color. This way y'all will get a deep glimpse into her mind, see her side of the breakup with Baron, and also can kinda guess how she's going to be problematic for Aurelia and Baron.